1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396 - The AMD Chevelle: Part 1

Getting our Chevelle down to a skeleton.

Back in the June ’11 issue, Patrick Hill wrote a story discussing how to pick your next project car based on how much project car you could handle. The story mapped out things to consider when taking on a build. The car used as an example in the story is our newest Super Chevy project, dubbed the AMD Chevelle. It’s an original 1967 SS396. The idea of this project is to show you how to take the worst possible clapped-out rust bucket and transform it into an assembly-line-fresh muscle car. For the first phase of the project, we plan on bringing it back as close to factory fresh as possible.

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Before we could add the new suspension, driveline, or interior panels, the sheetmetal side of the restoration needs to be addressed. The Chevelle has seen better days and has some serious rust issues along with dents and dings acquired over the 44 years the car has been out in the elements. With good donor cars getting harder and harder to find, the rebuilding process has gotten more in-depth, which you will see with this car.

We’ll be getting all the metal for this car from AMD’s extensive line of replacement sheetmetal for ’66-67 Chevelles/Malibus. While there are companies out there offering metal parts for these cars, AMD is the only one offering a full roof skin, hinge pillar post, and a full dash. AMD has also made all new tooling for the quarter-panels, which are now thicker than before with nice, crisp lines.

Handling the restoration of the Chevelle will be Craig Hopkins and his crew of Aaron Hopkins, Caesar Brecino, and Chris Dyer at C. Hopkins Rod & Custom in Commerce, Georgia. Craig’s shop is AMD’s main installation and R&D center, so we have one of the best crews doing the work.

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1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396 - The AMD Chevelle: Part 1

15 Caesar now meticulously cuts out the remnants of the floor pan with a grinder. This is where we’ll leave off this month. The next issue will feature new AMD sheetmetal going into the car and turning our skeleton into a complete car again.

1. Here are all the components from AMD that will be used to rebuild this Chevelle. Not everything AMD sells is made of metal, the company also offers a complete line of glass. There will be no stone left unturned with this project.

2. After all the components that could be unbolted and removed, like the front clip and doors Craig (left) and Caesar (right) started the roof-skin removal. An oxygen/acetylene torch was used to melt out the factory lead before Craig used an air chisel to quickly cut around the perimeter of the roof skin.

3. The area around the back window was cut free with a grinding wheel. Craig does this—cuts the bulk of the metal out of the way first and then comes back to remove the remnants—to preserve the substructure as much as possible.

4. The same procedure was used to cut off the quarter-panels. Craig made quick cuts along the edges of the quarter, leaving all the factory spot-welds in place.

5. As you can see, the drip rails, wheelwell lips, and truck seal area are still intact.

6. Caesar used a grinder to remove the spot-welds holding the dash in place, again in an attempt to preserve the underlying structure.

7. With all the big pieces out of the way, Craig and Caesar tackled the remnants. Since the new metal will attach to the substructure, leaving it in better shape will produce better results.

8. At this point the shell was taken off the frame and put on a jig and then sent to Black Mountain Sand Blasting for a media-blasting treatment. After blasting, some of the substructure showed rust issues. This is the drip rail, and as you can see it’s toast. If there were only a little rust Craig would just fabricate a few patch pieces, but that won’t help here.

9. Since the substructure, which includes the drip rail, is not available, Craig found one from a wrecked donor car. After blasting, everything was given a coat of DuPont DTM 25105 Direct to Metal Epoxy sealer tinted to match the factory red oxide to prevent rust from coming back. Since we are going for a true factory look, the car will need to have some red oxide primer showing in a few areas like the trunk.

10. Before tackling the roof substructure removal, Craig used a length of square stock to tie the firewall to the rear deck temporarily so nothing will move when the structure is removed. Using an ESAB Power Cut 650 plasma cutter, Craig dissected the roof structure to get it off the car. For the smaller remnants, Craig used a grinder to nib off the spot welds.

11 Now a large selection of locking pliers is used to secure the donor roof structure to the body. This will keep everything lined up during the welding process, since metal likes to move when heat is applied.

12. Speaking of welding, Craig employs a Pro Spot I-4 OEM-certified spot welder for most of the welding duties. This leaves a factory-correct spot-weld. For areas that the spot welder can’t get into, a Lincoln SP175 MIG welder is used.

13. Now that the new roof structure is on, the shell is taken off the jig and strapped to a two-post lift. Then, with the plasma cutter, the floor was quickly cut out.

14. This shot should give you a good idea where the initial cut was made.

15. Caesar now meticulously cuts out the remnants of the floor pan with a grinder. This is where we’ll leave off this month. The next issue will feature new AMD sheetmetal going into the car and turning our skeleton into a complete car again.

The AMD 1967 Chevelle project is getting closer and closer to being finished. Now the next step is to apply seam sealer for a factory-original appearance. Click here for more details or check out the May issue of Super Chevy Magazine » Read More